Despite more than 50 per cent of people in rural communities volunteering, organisations relying on volunteers are facing shortages and burnout, according to a report released by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre.
Read more: Volunteers in demand in the Wheatbelt
The report, ‘The social and economic sustainability of WA’s rural workforce’, identified the challenges faced by organisations seeking to recruit and retain volunteers in rural WA, and found there is increasing pressure on the rural volunteer organisations and their workforce.
The report coincides with a series of articles by the Avon Valley and Wheatbelt Advocate exploring the future of volunteering in the region.
The report revealed that more than 50 per cent of rural West Australians are volunteers but there is still a shortage that is set to decline further.
Report author Professor Kirsten Holmes, from the School of Marketing at Curtin University, said volunteers delivered crucial roles in under-resourced communities, but an ageing population and trend towards city living among younger people was creating a challenge.
“Our findings show there is a very high level of volunteering participation in rural WA communities, with more than 50 per cent of residents volunteering in some form, with sport and emergency services the most popular activities,” Professor Holmes said.
“Volunteers are generally happier with their sense of community, and develop stronger social networks and ties in the local region.
“However, 40 per cent of the volunteering organisations that we surveyed indicated that they currently had volunteer shortages, and another 16 per cent expected to have volunteer shortages in the next one to five years.”
The report found an ageing population was putting increased pressure on demand for volunteer-driven support services.
“Our ageing population is creating stronger demand for services provided by volunteers including social activities and respite care for seniors," Professor Holmes said.
"Recruiting younger people, new migrants to the community and early retirees who are not already volunteering should be a priority for volunteer organisations.
“Involving people in volunteering activities from a young age, including at school, may ‘normalise’ volunteering for younger people, and carry their involvement throughout their lives and increase the pool size from which organisations can recruit from.”
The report found the relocation of volunteers as a major threat to the longevity of the volunteer workforce, with nine per cent of rural volunteers planning to move within two years.
Report co-author Associate Professor Amanda Davies said expected volunteer shortages come as the result of young people moving out of the region for education and employment.
“More than 1000 survey respondents indicated they would move away from their local community in the next decade, representing a potential loss of 23 per cent of the current volunteer workforce,” Associate Professor Davies said.
“Given the current volunteering participation rate is high in regional WA, if we see a large outmigration in these communities then this does threaten the viability of the volunteer workforce in the long term.”
The report suggested that data driven strategies need to be developed to support rural volunteering to understand the type, frequency and intensity of volunteer participation.